The Next Generation
by StarsInTheRain
Summary: Konoha is destroyed, crushed in the last battle against the Akatsuki. Seven survivors of the Leaf still walk the earth,the Land of Fire is thrown into chaos. The Sand and Rain begin to move,but what does the future hold for the devastated Shinobi Nations?
1. In The Sunset Lies Revenge

Sasuke's been really annoying me in the recent chapters (early 400's), with all the stuff he's getting away with.

For example, planning Konoha's destruction! Everything else he did was pretty excusable, but not that! (I promise to update The Condemned Man soon!)

Sorry to any Sasuke fans!

Please review!

The Last Time

A bird of prey plunged down from the dusty gray and ruby heavens, letting out a harsh screech. Trailing smoke from his wings, he flew swiftly between the burning buildings. Squawking in fright, he dodged a sudden flare of fire that burst from a window near the village outskirts, collapsing the roof and ejecting a shower of glowing sparks.

A girl leaped out to land in the rubble-strewn courtyard, and she readied a knife, firelight glinting off the black metal. Then the last wall fell to pieces with a crackle of lightning, as a boy followed after her. He bled from many wounds, raven hair almost crimson in the bloody light.

Panting heavily, the two foes circled each other, one's face twisted with vindictive fury, and the other stumbling in weariness, his resolution, at long last, wavering.

'What does it feel like to be helpless, you _monster_?' the girl asked with a ragged laugh that expelled a few drops of red from her mouth. 'Would that I had enough strength left in my torn body to finally finish you off!' she snarled, her voice almost failing, every word a huge effort.

Something flickered in her enemy's dark eyes. Forcing himself upright and leaning against a blood-streaked stone, he gazed, breathing hard, out over the ruined village, now a corpse-ridden battlefield.

_Was_ this what he'd really wanted? Confusion roiled in his thoughts, weakening him even further. No. He couldn't even think it. Doubt was the enemy here. Hardening his heart, he met the girl's furious stare steadily. Looking back at him in grief, held-back tears slid free from her jade eyes.

'I believed in you,' she choked out. 'For so long, I never thought .........you would be the cause of all this.'

'And?' he replied, smirking.

She froze as a new wave of shock hit her trembling, injured body. 'Are you_ happy _now_, _when so many have_ died _because of_ you? _Now th-that Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Lady Tsunade, and so, so many others are _dead_?!'

Great, heaving sobs wracked her body, and she doubled over, tears pouring down her dirty face. 'ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, SASUKE?!' Sakura screamed, lunging over to his side. '_ANSWER ME!'_

'Sakura . . .' he murmured, her words stabbing deep, unearthing emotions he thought he had long ago locked up in the deepest recesses of his heart.

A long-forgotten feeling seeped into him, and he shuddered in the icy wind.

Grabbing the front of his stained shirt, she raised her knife, and he closed his eyes in acceptance.

But Sakura lowered it again, and loosened her grip, bowing her head. 'I can't do it.' she murmured under her breath. Sakura couldn't find it in herself, not after the past she would always remember, and never be able to forget. Why? She thought in sadness and confusion. I loved him. I did, but I can't still! Oh, I don't understand!

'Sasuke Uchiha, the boy I loved, died three years ago,' Sakura told herself fiercely, and a stray tear fell down her cheek. '_He's gone!' _

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Sakura, wondering why he couldn't feel indifferent towards her any more. Was it because of what she'd said? Or was it that he'd lost the will to keep hating? Real acknowledgement of the deaths Sasuke had caused had finally come to him.

_You were never meant to be an avenger. The path you took at the crossroads was never your destiny. And the guilt you tried to seal away will catch up with you eventually, and sink its claws mercilessly into your soul, one by one, no matter how far or fast you try to run._

Sakura brought her face up to Sasuke's, and gasped at what she saw in his expression, letting go of her knife, and it clanged to the stones. The former emptiness in Sasuke's eyes was now inhabited with something new, and the angry mask he had worn for so long had been shattered by uncertainty.

'Maybe not,' Sasuke whispered, so quietly she barely heard. 'Oh god, how did I ever let it come to this?' he said, the last of his strength fading away.

'_No!_ You're not the one I used to know!' But the fire in Sakura's voice had gone out, and she could do nothing but stand like a statue.

'I almost—wish I could be,' Sasuke said, his voice echoing with the pain of years. He touched her face gently, and Sakura cried harder, her heart breaking.

She slid down the wall, and he followed after. Sakura opened her mouth, passionate words trembling on her lips. But then she seemed to change her mind as she saw once again the horrible desecration of her home village. 'Too late, Sasuke. Three years too late.'


	2. In The Darkness Is Awakening

This was originally intended to only be a oneshot, but I was asked to continue, which has definitely been a good choice! No claims made to Naruto, please read and review!

In The Darkness Is Awakening

*

Sakura floated in the peace and quiet of darkness. She faintly realised that she couldn't feel her body, and was happy. Finally, she had found a sanctuary from the pain.

Not the pain of her numerous injuries, but the pain of the heart, the sickness of her soul, the poisonous revelation that her lifelong home was gone. Not the buildings. After all, any village was only its people, and there was nobody left. There was no reason for Sakura to keep striving to live.

She'd never wanted to dwell too much on how she would die. She'd supposed it would be in action, like a true kunoichi. One strike Sakura would be too slow to dodge, a few too many strains of chakra over her limit. But what she'd always dreaded was that she would draw her last breath knowing that she had died for nothing, over a single weak attack and a jutsu too late.

Giving her life in order to bring another back from the gate of death, as a true medic should. Saving Naruto, but even at that she had failed, not being able to protect him to the end.

It was, had been, Sakura's duty and her pleasure.

But there was no one alive to heal anymore. Even the tiny effort to stop her life's blood spilling was beyond her now.

Because all others are dead, she thought, and her life continued to drain away.

No-one left.

Wait.

There was one other.

Sasuke.

But did he count?

Surely, he must be dead by now, just as she must be also.

Or maybe not.

And with that thought, the night that clouded Sakura's mind retreated as light, bright, penetrating, painful light seared into her slowly opening eyes. _No,_ she protested weakly. _What is the need?_

_He may. . . not be gone yet._

_I—have not completed the mission._

And at long last, she savagely fought the crushing darkness that was once again advancing. It no longer held the promise of peace. Feeling slowly, painfully crept into Sakura's limbs and aching muscles. Heat engulfed her in a rush, and she coughed in pain, making a hacking sound and doubling up on the hot flagstones, bent over.

The glow grew even stronger, and bounced off something a meter or so away from her that moved and rippled.

Water, Sakura thought with longing. I have—to get to the water. She gathered herself together and crawled, gasping as a gnash in her shoulder began to throb and bleed again.

'_No,_' she growled. 'I _refuse_ to die yet, dammit!'

But the relentless sun beat down from the sky, Sakura's head swam, and a whirl of dizziness wrapped around her, only adding to the pain. Just a little further! She told herself desperately.

The cool embrace of the cold liquid danced over Sakura's fingertips, and she sighed in relief as she let her filthy, broken body roll into the deep, dirty, but soothing river.

Air entering Sakura's lungs with a sharp, shallow breath, the girl clung to a floating object and let the current take her. _Good, she thought. I'll – be clean again. _

_*_

My parents are dead.

Sakura went blind with horror as she remembered, awake and washed up on the banks. They had been crushed inside the burning hospital, unable to the last to get out.

No! I can't think it!

'_I can't!_' Sakura screamed, clutching her temples, shaking her head in denial.

It couldn't be true. _It wasn't true! _

But it is, her mind told her. You're an orphan now, Sakura.

Tears flowed from her bloodshot jade eyes, and she sobbed with misery and despair. Shortly after, another huge wave of hurt washed through her, barely begun to heal wounds flaring with pain again.

Naruto was dead.

And at that thought, Sakura clenched her eyes shut, her screams of grief somehow magnifying into the distance, echoing through the village, but nobody could hear her now.

Naruto was gone forever.

She froze, banishing the thought from her memory. She couldn't even bear to begin to comprehend it.

The girl curled into a ball on the cracked ground, and cried, violent sobs shaking her body. How did this all happen? Sakura despaired. When did it all begin? Was it the moment Sasuke left, taking half of herself and Naruto with him? Or was it earlier, at the very cursed moment Madara Uchiha revolted against the First Hokage?!

'I don't have the answer,' Sakura whispered brokenly. 'And I never knew how to stop it.'

But when I get down to it, none of this would have happened if not for Sasuke joining Orochimaru, and then Akatsuki. Sakura thought emotionlessly, crushing a handful of dirt, her fist trembling.

'_I—almost wish I could be,'_

'No, he can't possibly have meant it! When did Sasuke ever bloody care about what happened to anybody else, as long as he got his revenge?!' Her eyes narrowed to burning emerald slits. 'The village and all the people here are dead-' she blanched at the thought of Naruto, '-and_ does he care?! He __**isn't**_the_ sole person _in the world_ who's suffered!_ He _never _saw Naruto's pain!_'_

But maybe, just maybe, a horrible voice whispered to her, you never saw it either. So blind. . . .

No! Sakura thought. I know I didn't understand for a long time, but even so, I. . . . Sakura couldn't finish, an emotion choking her dry throat that she had no words for.

Sakura stood up, scowling in anger, her ragged hair and torn clothes blowing in the hot wind. It was nearing the time for sunset, and the bite of the boiling air wasn't so cruel anymore. She slowly climbed over the wet rubble of the bridge, and paused for a second. With a dull shock, she recognised the corpse of a fisherman silhouetted in light, so she turned away, unable to look. Sitting on a piece of stone, she closed her eyes and shakily tested her chakra.

Good. I'm recovered enough now, Sakura mused, and a light green balloon of healing chakra coalesced round her right hand. She lowered it to her leg, knitting muscle and flesh back together, halting the new red blood flow that had not stopped before, and soon most of her worst injuries were on the road to recovery.

But as soon as the young girl looked up with a deep, gasping sigh, the terrible spreadeagled forms of the dead men sprang into bloody clarity with a flash of silver before her numb eyes, and for a horrible instant, she thought one of them was her former teacher.

'_Kakashi-sensei!_' she gasped.

Was he all right? He had to be! He was an elite jounin, so can't possibly be dead! Sakura told herself frantically, but deep down, she knew that she was just deluding herself. It had only been pure luck she had made it, and she had seen no-one else alive, nor heard anyone's cries.

There was no hope.

A short time later, she was limping through the ruined, blood-splattered streets of the village. Suddenly with a flash of sadness, she recognised a familiar place. Ichiraku Ramen was only an empty, broken shell now, but she was thankful that the owner had gone travelling with his daughter a few months ago. Two less deaths, two lives saved. But not everybody had been so lucky.

'Oh, Kakashi-sensei. . . .' Sakura murmured, her voice cracking.

***

_A warm dusky evening in Konoha, the stars just beginning to sparkle into life. Lanterns glow with rosy pools of light, illuminating the bustling streets._

_Inside Ichiraku Ramen, four guests finish eating the last of their meals. _

'_I could eat another hundred, Kakashi-sensei! Haven't you got any more cash?' Naruto says happily. Kakashi sighs in defeat, his wide green-and-black-clad shoulders slumping. _

_Sasuke smirks at Naruto, shaking his head and raising his perfect black eyebrows._

_With a furious twitch, Naruto jumps off his stool, knocking it over with a loud clang and causing the owner to frown in comical disapproval._

'_Got something to say, teme?!'_

'_Why would I dignify that stupid question with an answer, moron?' Sasuke drawls, setting down his chopsticks. 'Dumb as ever, Naruto.'_

_Before the other can start to attack him, Kakashi slides in between the two boys with inhuman grace, forcing Naruto back onto his seat with his right arm and glaring at Sasuke, shadows flickering over the textures of his masked face._

'_Don't even start, you two. I'm not in the mood for it, and just because you both did well on today's mission doesn't mean you get let off on teamwork.' He leans back against the dark red counter, folds his arms and stares menacingly at his students. 'And I will not pay for any damage that might be done to this poor man's restaurant. __**Get it?**__'_

'_But, Kakashi-sensei, he __**insulted**__ me,' Naruto says, sticking out his bottom lip in defiance._

'_**What did I say, Naruto?**__' his teacher replies in a slow, low tone that foretold murder for the unfortunate victim._

_The blond cowers down in his seat, or as much as he can on a stool, muttering darkly._

_In a few minutes, Naruto stomps out of Ichiraku, his bright clothes rapidly vanishing into the many-coloured crowd. A second later, Sasuke also leaves, walking in the opposite direction, a beam of moonlight illuminating him for a moment, before he too disappears down an alleyway and the night closes over him._

_Back in the bar, Kakashi sighs and pays for the four of them, and is about to follow their example, when he realises there's something he has forgotten. _

'_Coming, Sakura?' Kakashi asks, inclining his head._

_The small, pink-haired girl nodded silently, standing up robotically, and following her teacher outside, walking just behind him._

_Nobody really notices the two ninja as they weave in and out of the busy crowd. Kakashi strolls along nonchalantly, lifting Come Come Paradise out of his back pouch and beginning to read by the lanterns' multi-coloured shimmer. With surprise, he notices that Sakura's still following him, even though they had passed the turnoff for her street._

_He stops at the main bridge, leaning against the railing._

'_What's wrong, Sakura?' Kakashi asks, looking at her as she sets foot on the first few planks._

'_N-nothing, sensei.' She smiles weakly, and turns round, facing away from him, stepping back towards the light of the streets. 'I'm fine!'_

'_You're not,' Kakashi states quietly but bluntly out of the moving shadows. 'This isn't the usual Sakura.'_

'_Is it that obvious?' she replies, head bowed._

'_Come here.' He beckons, and she walks over to him slowly, eyes downcast, fixed on the river that flowed deep and black and cold below them, tiny twinkling lights dancing through and over its ripples. Kakashi relaxes his arms onto the railing, and Sakura follows suit, but still refuses to look at him._

'_I'd be a pretty poor teacher if I didn't know my own students, Sakura.' He tells her. _

'_I was pretty much useless again today, Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke is so amazing, and even Naruto fought way better than I did. I just feel l-like dead weight.' She buries her head in her arms, and Kakashi thinks he hears a muffled sob. 'And even just now at Ichiraku Ramen, it felt like I was being left behind. . . again. Sasuke and Naruto've always been rivals and sometimes friends, which is good- but it's something I can't-and n-never will be able to share in.'_

_Kakashi puts a hand on Sakura's shoulder in comfort._

'_Listen to me.' He says softly, 'You are not useless in Team 7 in any way, shape or form. You are much smarter than either Naruto __**or **__Sasuke, and I __**shudder**__ to think of what scrapes those two boys would get themselves into without you there.'_

_Sakura raises her head, and some stray starlight shows a faint smile on her pale face. 'Really?' _

_He smiles back, tilting his head down to look at her. 'Yes. Whenever they get into a fight, you're the one who calms them down and makes them see sense. Your strength as a shinobi is more emotional-wise.'_

_Creasing her eyebrows, Sakura looks at him quizzically. 'But how can that be good for a shinobi? I'm more emotional than both of them!'_

'_That's just it, Sakura. You aren't afraid to show your feelings, and by doing so force Sasuke and Naruto into being a little more honest with themselves.'_

_Fully attentive, the young girl stares up at him in surprise, tears drying on her cheeks._

'_When I was about your age, the girl on my team, Rin, was the glue that held our team together, just by being who she was.' Kakashi says quietly, gazing up at the star-studded heavens. 'Rin's compassion was unusual for a shinobi, but it was her greatest strength. She was very similar to you in a lot of ways, and Team 7 would likely have broken up within weeks if not for you.'_

_They are silent for a few minutes. The moon is now fully risen, and the many lanterns of Konoha dim before the light of the moon. It seems more peaceful now, with a gentle breeze wafting across the water, and several leaves fluttering onto the river, the night air cold._

_Kakashi speaks, breaking the silence. 'It's pretty late, Sakura. You should think about going home now.' He straightens, and continues over the bridge, hands in pockets._

'_Good night.'_

'_Oh-yeah. You're right!' Sakura says, starting to skip in the opposite direction, a new spring in her step, but then she stops. 'One more thing, Kakashi-sensei.'_

_He turns his eyes back towards Sakura's slight figure, her red dress half vivid in the starry, not-quite-darkness, and half blending into the bright glows of the street. _

_The breeze comes again, and the faint, sweet scent of cherry blossoms drifts from the tree on the far side._

'_Yes, Sakura?'_

_A big smile spreads across her face._

'_Thank you.'_

_*_


	3. In A Nightmare Death Has Come

No claims made to Naruto, please, please review!

Enjoy!

In A Nightmare Death Has Come

The deep green leaves of a bush rustled in a breeze of the warm night, perfectly concealing the woman lying below, her body as still as a statue. Not even the calm moonlight could show any signs of life or any telltale heartbeat. Blood stained her torn tan coat, and injuries still bled on her pale limbs. To the outsider, she was dead.

But appearances are deceiving, and this one, much more than most. Even so, when she finally moved, weariness trembled in her arm, and her face was sad and tired.

She gently parted the leaves and warily glanced out into the murky forest, running the last of her chakra through her mind and casting her senses far into the distance.

An owl hooted loudly, as though disturbed from its night hunting, silently flying towards the woman.

Familiar scents stole through the air from the gust taken by the bird's silent wings and as she furiously recognised the smell, despair and hate twisted across her dirty face.

'Dammit,' she whispered. 'What will it take for you losers to give up?'

Cloaked in the night, scowling in anger and defeat, she emerged from her leafy cover. Raising her guard and facing her pursuers, she backed up against an overhanging tree and took in every detail of her twenty trackers, sharp black shapes tensed to move in for the kill against the creamy moon.

'Abandon hope, woman. You're finished. Did you _ever_ think you could escape from _us?_' The front man asked, a sneer on his triumphant face.

'Funny how it took _twenty_ of you morons and almost _two_ days to finally find _one_ injured kunoichi.' Smirking, she kept her face in shadow, but then her breath caught in her throat.

Realising just how many Jounin ninja from the Rain were present, she gasped in shock. She'd never guessed how much the odds were majorly against her, and in her current wounded and exhausted state, she stood no chance.

'A dead woman gives out no insults, bitch.' The leader snarled, drawing a kunai.

It would hardly be a fight.

More like a massacre.

A strangled laugh tore through her soft mouth, and she thought how ridiculous that last thought had been. She was dead anyway, no matter what happened from there. Konoha, her only home, the centre of her world, was crushed by the Akatsuki, and she was sure there were no other survivors.

No more attack or even defence was possible for her. She'd been fighting and running for almost a full day and night from the Rain-nin after fleeing the village and she didn't fool herself. She had no strength left. Most of her chakra had already been used up by the time she'd returned from her last mission, and she'd had to fight once again right afterwards, again and again, with no rest or sleep, battling grief and horror for all who were dead, injuries building up until she'd finally managed to lose her trackers for a few hours.

Only to be cornered again . . . . .

At least I took down a couple of those scum first, she recalled, grinning harshly. Called themselves elite Jounin, huh? They were so shocked to see me alive they went down like dominoes, the weaklings! Some well-planned ambush _that_ was!

Even so, it _still_ leaves me with the immediate problem of almost certain death.

No! Wait a second! She remembered. There was still. . . . . No! She couldn't. It would go against everything she'd ever believed in for the past few years and corrupt her mind!

What would the Lord Hokage have thought of the fact that she was even _considering _using her. . . .

She shook her dark head back and forth, chaos reigning over her mind.

But as the leader of the Rain finished speaking and started to advance, closing in, she decided, hard resolve burning in her eyes.

_There was no other choice._ She might as well do this much for her dead village. She _wouldn't _lose control of herself like that Uchiha brat.

The woman closed her slanted eyes and sank deep into her subconscious mind, cloudy with pain, feeling for the buried well of power that she had denied for so many years.

She reached it.

Nudged.

And at long last, the Cursed Seal of Heaven burned into life on her white throat.

_Yes, _she thought in triumph, staggering forward and meeting the lead Jounin's merciless eyes. A dark and overpowering, intoxicating sweetness leaked into her from the Seal, and black, hungry tendrils blazed white-hot over her skin with the tingle of an electric current.

Power flowed into her battered body, and she laughed in anticipation.

*

Her trackers backed away in surprise, retreating a few metres up into the emerald trees. The leader frowned in confusion. This had been supposed to be a simple mission!

Hunt down and kill any survivor Leaf-nin, no matter how long it took, thus making sure the Akatsuki and Rain would have no more opposition! Otherwise another resistance may rise.

They would be solitary, injured and weak from Konoha's battle, with almost no chakra and few weapons left.

'_Split into teams and sniff them out, survivors and ones who lived by being on a mission._

_But they will return, and when that happens, ambush them._

_We cannot have __**any **__alive, for as long as there is even one ninja of the Leaf left, there is no real victory, and no true revenge.'_

Nothing could have prepared the Rain trackers for this.

In the dry, grassy hollow under a tall oak, the _supposedly_ half-dead young Jounin kunoichi was _changing_.

Every hair on her tangled, spiky black head was lengthening and cascading down, lightening to a blinding shade of molten silver which seemed to capture every stray moonbeam that glimmered through the trees.

All her injuries were healing, melting away into nothing and leaving smooth, unblemished skin. Two short obsidian horns pushed through her skull with a harsh grinding noise, and her previously dark brown eyes lost all colour, draining into empty pools of black nothingness.

Pearly chakra spread over the kunoichi like a translucent veil, and in one fluid motion, she stood up and vanished, fading back into the tangled shadows.

It was silent, the tracker leader thought.

Too silent.

He readied himself, but was far too late.

The leader's eyes widened in terror and he opened his mouth, but before one word left his lips, a horrific tearing sounded and his head was torn from his shoulders from behind with an explosion of crimson blood and tissue.

The woman ran her tongue over her lips.

'Surprise,' she whispered.

His blood was sweet. Just a little more death and she wouldn't be breaking any promises. She gazed at the nineteen frozen Rain-nin before her, sensed their terror, and loved it. It was a shame they wouldn't be shivering for much longer, the scum.

'Run,' she hissed, narrowing her eyes viciously. 'Prolong your lives for a few more seconds. You destroyed my village, and you will _pay.'_

Two tried to escape, terror lending their feet wings. She sank into a half-crouch, her silver hair flying in the warm wind. Flashing through the air, she faced three more of the men, and listened to their fearful hearts beat, savouring the sound. One, braver than the others, brought his arm round in a rapid swing, aiming for her neck.

But as the kunai drew a line of red on her face, some of the Seal's cursed chakra ran onto his hand, hungrily running up his arm. He screamed, collapsing and writhing in the grass, the pain from the curse eating him from the inside out.

Face in shadow, the woman grinned coldly, a drop of blood running down her glowing cheek. 'You ever thought a pathetic worm like you could possess something like _this?_'

She watched him die.

She laughed.

_Die a tortuous death, trash. Feel my wrath for the pain you inflicted upon me._

Wild laughter tore from her lips, and she quickly disabled seven more men with a series of hard kicks, slipping through their defences with ease and feeling bone shatter. Rippling icy chakra throughout her body, she concentrated all the power in her pale hands, which sparkled like icy marble.

'Thi-this can't be!' a man gasped, his stocky chin wobbling as her thin face appeared a few inches from his. 'You're supposed to be-'

But before he could finish, his skull was crushed, ground into a hundred pieces with one blow from her glittering white fist.

'Helpless? Is that what you meant to say? Me? Never.' The woman closed her eyes, long lashes brushing her shining cheeks, and focused her power into a great wave of death. It expanded, and flowed in a great, glowing orb, draining the life from all the remaining trackers as they tried to flee, ripping their corpses to pieces, blood rushing from their torn limbs.

The woman stood in a trance, her almond-shaped eyes wide as she realised it wasn't over yet. There was one left. Trembling with delight, she ran into the gloom of the forest with the speed of a hunting cat, and landed lightly behind the running figure of the last tracker, who was babbling frantically for backup into his radio.

'Think you'll be _saved_, trash?' Slamming him into a tree, she laughed in joy. 'You're not so fortunate as your companions!' she hissed, trapping his shaking arms with the steel girders that were her hands against the dark wood, and forcing a knee into his back, hearing bone break, his spine snap. 'You'll die much, _much _slower.'

'How can you be a Leaf kunoichi?' the man gasped from the murky shadows in terror and pain, his legs going limp, tainted light from her body flickering over him. 'You killed all the others so brutally, _witch_!'

'_WHAT!' _Her delicate features twisted into animalistic rage. 'YOU HELPED TO KILL MY COMRADES AND THE LEAF and you can stand there AND _TELL ME I'M A MURDERER!' _ She screamed again and again, head thrown back, the sound ripping and breaking.

The moon drifted behind a cloud, and all was dark, the only light from the woman's glittering white body. Drawing back her hand, she brought it down with speed that was all but invisible, and savagely tore his back apart, tearing muscle and bone, digging deeper and deeper, his back and her arm slick with crimson blood, until finally, she reached his rapidly beating heart.

He cowered back in terror. 'Could the Akatsuki have killed me any more horribly?' he whispered, and died.

The night had grown cold, and a breath of icy wind kissed her face as she felt the warmth and life flee his body.

The woman stood frozen, shock evident in every line of her body. The pearly aura began to dissolve from round her, and her shining obsidian horns receded back into her head. The black emptiness of her slanted eyes faded away, which then widened in horror.

She dropped to her knees, the corpse falling to the ground with a dull thud. Her moon-bright hair darkened and shortened to sooty black, and her skin then lost the cold glimmer, returning to pale pink.

'What have I done?' she choked, standing up and running, tripping over tree roots, but keeping on going, all the way back to the clearing, escaping as though the very shadows were reaching menacingly out for her.

'Oh, gods.' Looking at the remains of the other trackers lit up under the now-present, icy moon, she whispered brokenly.

How could I have killed them like that, Rain-nin or not?

How could I have thought the Heaven Seal would save me?

Then the pain, too long numbed by the Seal, erupted in her head and neck like the fire of a dying sun, burning, torturing her as a hundred stabbing kunai.

And Sasuke Uchiha had revelled in this power, loved it. What a repulsive little _brat, _the woman growled to herself, gasping for each painful breath amid the strewn corpses of her trackers, body covered with the scarlet blood of her victims.

She knew better than anyone how hard the temptation of the cursed seals was to resist, but Uchiha could have done it. But he'd _embraced_ it, like the traitorous little bastard he was. Rising, she began to limp towards the morning sun streaming through the trees. Out of the dark forest, a place from the heart of a nightmare, the dark clearing where the ground was stained red with blood.

Suddenly the Heaven Seal flared in pain, and she groaned, still almost helpless from concentrated use of the Level Two Seal. It was if a thousand kunai had just pierced her neck, hungry for more of her pain. The forest blurred before her aching, prickling eyes, but she kept going, determined not to give up her life just yet. But then the last dregs of her strength evaporated as pain exploded in her veins and neck, burning, hurting, and she collapsed, the world fading slowly to black oblivion. But I won't die, she raged. Not until I can kill, at the very least, those of Hawk.

'_Especially _that Uchiha_. _I'll _tear him _to piecesnextfor what he's done,' she muttered.

That is, if someone hasn't already beaten me to the punch, she mused as she blacked out for the _second _time that night.

Which would be entirely possible.

*

Slipping in and out of her dreams, the woman drifted in the dark. Sometimes she thought she heard voices, far and distant, close and near, high up and low down, clear and faint, but dismissed them as illusions.

After a while, time lost all meaning, and the burning sun seemed to rise and sink in the space of only a few minutes. Hot, stifling, overwhelming heat pressed down on her, and it hurt. Then freezing cold iced her over, piercing her heart with a thousand icicles, and in the dream, she shivered.

Suddenly another voice crept into her ears, deep and resonating.

She paid the voice no attention. Just another delusion.

'Unbelievable—you're alive!' The voice exclaimed harshly, louder now.

Frowning, she tried to keep ignoring it. Why couldn't it just leave her alone? She wanted to rest-she was so very tired.

'Go away,' she murmured. 'Let me rest.' But the welcome blackness was flowing away, and horrible, painful colours were entering her opening eyes. Vivid brightness flashed, and she groaned in protest.

'Can you hear me?' the voice demanded urgently, its tone ragged, but no longer was it just a voice. A face swam into her view, blurry, and she wasn't sure, but she thought she detected a faint smile adorning it. She was pretty sure she knew who it was-but of course it was just a painful dream, for she knew he was dead.

'Is it you-' she asked the dream, but the cool dark was once again seeping back, and she welcomed it, not bothering to finish.

Dark.

The dark was quiet.

Dark did not hurt her.

She needed to rest.

But, then there was a faint sensation of movement, and she felt like she was floating.

Had the dark led her to heaven?

'It's all right, Wildcat.' The dark reassured her softly, huskily.

She smiled. The dark was kind.

'I'm here for you now.'


	4. In The Dawn Calamity Awaits

I don't own Naruto. Please read and review, that's inspiration in itself!

Sorry that this chapter took so long. ^_^

*The name of Temari's jutsu, roughly translated, is 'Heart of the east wind, jutsu of flight.'

In The Dawn Calamity Awaits

_When Temari, kunoichi of Suna, fights, she is as hard and sharp and deadly as her thrice-moon ninja fan, a harsh grating wind that tears her enemies to pieces in sandy cyclones and biting vortexes of air. She's fierce when she battles, fierce when she laughs. The raging strength of the sun and the relentless power of the heat are steeped into Temari's bones and heart, hot, dry and merciless as the desert itself. Nobody would describe her lethal motions as elegant or refined, but some can see a certain rough grace from her winds, and more often than not, it's him._

*

'Cell Fourteen of the Tracker Squads reporting back. Our mission has been completed. Open the gates!'

With a dull grinding, the gates swung wide, revealing the evening village of Suna and throwing long shadows over the rippling dunes. Faint stars were beginning to appear in the sky's canopy of deep, rich blue, a stark contrast to the dusty, fiery hues of the village, and its surrounding desert of burnished gold fading to silver with the sun. Blinking with tiredness, Matsuri ran a hand through her short hazel hair, lagging behind the rest of her jogging ninja cell. Every line of her body exuded relief as they approached the threshold of Suna.

Eagerly pricking up her ears, she listened to the faint notes of a flute flowing from the Kazekage's mansion, the melody haunting. Yawning loudly, Matsuri let the soft rain of music flow past her, beautiful as the water so cherished in the Land of Wind.

'He must be working particularly hard tonight.' She thought, a shy smile curving her mouth. She couldn't wait to see her master again! Not to mention tell him all about how well she'd done on the mission!

Noticing Matsuri lingering at the gate, the cell leader slowed and retreated backwards, making a signal for the others to stop. He then cast a glare that would have halted Shukaku himself in his tracks over his shoulder. '_Who_ was it that promised she wouldn't let herself be a burden on the rest of the cell?' Matsuri squeaked and hopped backwards as three artfully directed shruiken cut the air a centimetre away from where her neck had been. The leader lowered his hand, shaking his big head in pompous disgust. 'What kind of reaction timing was that? And you _Kazekage-dono's_ apprentice?'

'Not my fault, sir. You worked me too hard today!' Matsuri pouted, folding her thin arms in defiance. 'Gaara-sama would _never_ be so mean, unlike you, you slavedriver!'

His thick black eyebrow twitched. '_What?_ Slavedriver? Me? Such _disrespect_. . . . . . .' Sputtering in fury, he made as if to hit her. Matsuri performed a rapid body-flicker, playfully kicking up a cloud of red dust into her leader's face and appearing behind him.

'The truth hurts, Leader-sama!' Giggling, she ran back to the three other ninja of the cell, all of whom were attempting to hide in the rusty-red shadows and unsuccessfully trying to suppress laughter.

Matsuri's best friend Sari, also in the cell, snickered to herself. '_Leader-sama is about to reach his boiling point!' _Sari mouthed.

'_Got it! I'm ready with the cold water!' _Matsuri whispered back mischievously, winking and forming a hand seal.

'You ungrateful little brat! I put my heart and soul into the village, I dedicate my life to its protection, treat my duties with the utmost seriousness, let you tag along on a Jounin mission and THIS is the thanks I get?!' he shouted, and his face concocted in fury as it slowly turned a deep plum colour. He dramatically threw his arms up to the heavens.

Matsuri shrieked with high-pitched laughter, perching on a sandstone arch a little way down the main road. 'Aww, you're no fun!' she giggled.

Sari gave her the thumbs-up, leaving the two other members and leaping in a single fluid movement to join her atop the arch, now illuminated by warm golden light from a street-lamp. The two other men swallowed back their chuckles, nonchalantly strolled forward and held out their individual reports to the leader, who snatched them angrily. 'Whatever has happened to discipline in this village?' he lamented loudly. 'The way these young ninja act-it's just disgraceful!'

Little realising that nobody was listening to him, he ranted on, and Matsuri was already making a hasty retreat with Sari in tow before-

'I shall report your horrific behaviour to Kazekage-dono himself! Maybe he will rethink his choice of apprentice after this!'

'Ouch,' Matsuri bit her lip in worry as the two friends wandered down the bustling, dusty street a few minutes later. 'What if he really does report it? Gaara-sama will be so angry with me.'

'Don't worry, Matsuri-chan. Our amazing, powerful, elite Kazekage is never going to listen to the likes of that so-called Jounin! He's defied death itself!'

A grin broke out on her friend's heart-shaped face. 'You forgot cute.'

'Oooh, yes! But I'm not sure if _cute _is enough. . . . try completely, faintworthy, overwhelming ho-'

'Oh, Sari! Tsk, tsk!'

'Putting _that_ aside for now-I smell something mouth-watering and. . . .' Sari sniffed harder, '. . . with the aroma of red bean paste!'

The two girls laughed together, and entered a warm and inviting dango shop to the right, sitting down in a booth next to a wide window and studying the brightly coloured menus. Sari idly fiddled with a strand of her dark, heavy hair, a thoughtful look on her tanned countenance. Matsuri traced the grain of the dark red wood of the table, head bowed. A lone, cold breeze blew though the normally hot air, and they both shivered in surprise.

A few minutes later, there was a loud, vibrating thump. 'All right! That's it! Something's still bothering you, Matsuri. What is it?'

The moon is incredibly fascinating, I must say, Matsuri thought. And my, um, black chuunin gloves, are really uncommonly interesting tonight.

'_What?' _Sari growled, frowning threateningly. 'Come on-you know I'll get it out of you eventually.' She stared across the table with a penetrating glare, and Matsuri quailed, attempting to shrink into the back of her seat.

'Well-I'd feel terrible if Gaara-sama felt his trust had been misplaced in me, after all the work he's put into me-that would be worse than him being angry.' Matsuri whispered, sadness creeping into her voice.

Settling back down on her seat, Sari rested her chin in her hands more seriously. 'Yeah, I know what you mean.'

Then their orders arrived, and as the delicious hot smell drifted through the air, soon no more breath was wasted on talking, the only sound being satisfied _Mmmm's._

*

A young woman walked alone across rippling sand dunes, the hem of her long black kimono fluttering in the night breezes just above the sand, which looked almost like water under the drifting moon. Jade blades of grass began to appear, growing here and there from the sand, as the forest began to appear near her. She was tall and slim, about eighteen summers, strong-featured with deep honey blonde hair and large dark eyes that were full of reflected light. Her appearance was not prominent, peaceful and quiet, and she faded before the eternal expanse of white stars high above. Almost like a shadow, which was how she liked it.

Nearing the edge of the ancient forest, she felt her radio buzz into life.

_crackle _'_Temari-san?'crackle _

Man, we really need to redesign these stupid things, Temari thought, sighing to herself. What terrible reception. _'Yes, Baki-san? I finished my mission a while ago, but I'm not really tired. How soon do you need me there?'_

_crackle 'As soon as possible. I'm a couple of kilometres away from Konoha, and I haven't been able to sense any Leaf-nin. Something must be wrong!' _

Temari rolled her eyes to the heavens. He's so paranoid. _'Chill, Baki-san. They're probably just having a quiet night for once.' crackle 'Hell knows we all need it after Kazekage-sama's kidnapping!'_

'_It's not just that, Temari-san. I did find a couple of Konoha scouts, watchers for the border high up on the Land of Fire, near the Rain Village, and their throats were cut in the style of the Rain-nin assassins, not a day ago!' crackle crackle_

'_Could've been a lot of things, but yes—you're right. I've still got some time left and I know you have to get back to Suna, so I'll go to Konoha and inform the Hokage about this.'_

_crackle 'Are you sure?'_

'_Yes, I'll be fine. Goodbye.'_

'_Goodbye—and remember to save your energy. I have the utmost confidence that you won't drive yourself to the point of exhaustion with no one to help-' crackle '- like you did the _last_ seventeen times. __**Right?**__' crackle_

'_Yeah, yeah. You worry too much.' _

Forehead creased in worry, Temari broke the connection and began to run, much faster and deeper into the dark, overhanging trees. It could just be the work of some rogue Rain-nin, but having been part of the old plan to overthrow Konoha three years ago, she knew that often huge battles could start with the smallest signs. It only took one match to set a whole house on fire, if lit at the opportune moment and not put out in time.

But how urgent _was_ it? A few dead scouts were problematic, but wasn't fatal for Konoha.

Oh well, I'll let the village know, and they can take it from there.

Knowing Shikamaru, he will have already figured out what the enemy are doing down to the last little detail if the Leaf know about this! Temari had to admire her friend's intellect, having seen it first-hand and having been thoroughly beaten by him once! (considering she had never been stupid enough to spar with him again!) Grinning to herself, she disappeared into an old memory.

'_How the hell did you catch me?! I made sure to watch your shadow, and even the one in the air!' A much younger Temari raged, trembling with fury in the bright glow of the midday sun. 'A lazy bum like you!'_

'_You're such a pain. Women—they give me a headache.' And as if to prove his point, Shikamaru gave a colossal yawn, gazing at his trapped opponent. 'You didn't realise I might also have a shadow __**underground**__?'_

_Temari would have still argued-but his reasoning was, infuriatingly, right. Shutting her eyes tight in humiliation, she winced as horrible images of how Gaara would punish her for making such a show of her power, and then being so utterly beaten grew in her mind like poisonous weeds. What an amazing representation her home village had had from her at the Chuunin Exams, __**not**__. I'll __**kill**__ this loser, Temari thought with hatred. I'll make him beg me for mercy on—his—hands—and—knees! I will become strong enough to snap his scrawny little neck!_

'_I forfeit the match.'_

'_WHAT?!' Temari choked through the weakening shadow binding, flabbergasted. _

_Her jaw would have dropped if she'd been able to move it any more._

_What is he thinking, that moron? He won! So why is he just giving up?_

'_My chakra's almost completely depleted. I can barely bind you for another ten seconds. So, I give in.' He drawled, releasing the jutsu and starting for the arena's far-off stairs. 'You would have won anyway, and if I had kept fighting, it would have become even more troublesome.' _

_She couldn't believe it. _

_What kind of logic was __**that?**_

_But one thing was for sure. _

'_Shikamaru Nara,' Temari softly said under her breath. 'Maybe not so much of an idiot after all.'_

_He's an interesting guy. _

_Hmmm—I wouldn't mind watching him fight some more._

_Even so, Temari swore until her dying day that she'd just been cursing him. _

And then a few months later, Temari had saved _Shikamaru _from one of Orochimaru's minions. Rubbing it in his face had been the most fun she'd had in ages! And afterwards-through comradeship in battle, and much later when he'd been her guide when Temari had been the Sand Ambassador- somehow, along the line they'd become friends. Smiling at the memory, she then remembered with a shock that Shikamaru had been on many incredibly dangerous missions lately.

Primarily involving the Akatsuki, who'd been much more active of late. Those losers, having the nerve to kidnap her little brother _and_ kill her friend's teacher! _What if they'd had something to do with the deaths? _

Temari bit her lip in worry.

'You'd _better_ be okay, Shikamaru.'

The blonde kunoichi tried to tell herself again that the dead Leaf-nin most likely wasn't a dire problem, but she still had a very bad feeling that she and Baki had missed something important. 'No good,' she growled. 'I have to go faster. At this rate it'll be almost two days before I'm there.'

Temari halted abruptly, coming to a stop on a moss-covered branch softly lit up by a stray moonbeam. She unclipped her glossy fan from her back and unfurled it with a snap, balancing its huge size on her arm and right hip. Calming and stilling her mind, Temari dipped an invisible cup into her internal wellspring of luminous sapphire chakra, running it over her skin and throughout the heavy folds of her fan. Tingling breezes swirled into life round her arms, feet and fan, slowly extending their range, size and strength until she stood within an oval vortex of wind, dust motes glowing. The winds rushed past the nearby trees in currents of moving light, intensifying in speed and power, and then for a few short seconds the forest erupted into painfully intense, blinding white light which danced throughout the sky, forming gleaming, curling, pearly patterns.

Her kimono and hair flying, Temari rose a slender arm with her fan in hand, bringing her fan down in a sudden slice, cutting the main coil of the winds. The air screamed. She reached out her hands cloaked in waving, shining power, grabbed two handfuls of the rushing air, and smoothed them into a long, coiling ribbon of wind, clasping it tightly.

Finally, Temari laid down her fan on the dark wood and knelt on it, facing the end. The glowing ribbon fought her hands, trying to break free, but she tied it round the fan's base.

'_East wind, let me ride upon your back, to drift as a feather, soar as a bird. Let me be free, elusive as the rainbow. Unbound, fettered by none. Give me your reach, stretching into eternity. Give me your strength, destroyer of the earth. Give me your speed, fleeter than sound.'_ Temari whispered as she rapidly formed hand seals.

'_Kokoro no azuma kaze, touhi no jutsu.' *_

*

Hours later, the sun was beginning to warm the landscape in its fiery embrace, and black night was letting go its dark hold on the earth. Temari was now running along the forest floor, only about a kilometre from Konoha. She reached into her small bag and took out a brown soldier pill, swallowing with a shudder. She'd wished she wouldn't have to resort to that, but she didn't want to arrive in Konoha half-dead. Leaping over a tiny stream, Temari backtracked in horror. It was running crimson with _blood. _

The corpse was carelessly strewn a bit further on, half in the water and half resting on the dirt bank, as he continued to tightly grasp a kunai in one hand, even in death. Crimson blood still flowed from the deep chest wound in his cold flesh, and its overpowering smell almost made Temari gag. A navy blue hitai-ate was tied over his head, and water uncaringly ran over his sightless, staring eyes. Temari quickly lifted him fully out off the water and rapidly checked for vital signs, cutting herself as she noticed the short senbon sticking out of his mouth.

'Genma Shiranui.' Temari whispered in wide-eyed shock, recognising him from the long-ago Chuunin Exams.

As she sprinted towards Konoha, the count of Leaf-nin and Rain-nin corpses grew and grew. The dead ninja seemed to scream out silent defiance as birds of prey gathered round the bodies, and the metallic smell of blood was everywhere. It was dawn, but Temari hadn't even noticed the increasing light in face of the horrific place that she was sure had to be her imagination, because that was the only way she could force herself to keep going.

Baki-san was right, she realised hazily, her mind full of hot, red panic.

The Rain-nin are behind this.

More incoherent thoughts spun crazily through her mind, but nothing made sense. I don't understand! Temari almost screamed as she ran desperately forward, somehow knowing, but refusing to believe, that whatever time she got there, it would be too late.

She was soon brushing aside the last covering of bushes next to the gates of the village, her hands trembling in fear.

Bursting out into the first light of the morning sun, Temari froze in crippling, gut-wrenching horror as a sight out of her worst nightmare met her frantic eyes.


End file.
